Chains of political correctness must be broken, says columnist

AP photo/Bell County Sheriffs DepartmentU.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan at the San Antonio Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas, April 9, 2010.

By SUSAN STAMPER BROWN
CAGLE CARTOONS

“Peace begins with courageous leaders who are willing to identify and define our enemy, and their objectives, because political correctness has no place in our national security strategy.” Ret. Lt. Col. Allen West, Rep. R-FL at CPAC 2011

The great escape artist, Harry Houdini, was once invited to the British Isles to see if a newly built prison was escape-proof. Once inside his cell, Houdini carefully listened to the metal-to-metal clanking sounds of a prison guard inserting and then withdrawing a key from his cell’s lock. After the jailer left, Houdini pulled out his tools and confidently began working the lock; attempting to defeat it. As time passed, Houdini’s confidence waned to the point that the once unflappable escape artist eventually acknowledged defeat. Exhausted, Houdini leaned against the door which gave way under his weight to discover the only place the cell door was locked was within his own mind.

And so it is with those Democrats who have attempted to shackle Americans in the prison cell of political correctness, somehow believing that this imprisonment will keep us safer and change the minds of those who seek to destroy us, the unbelieving infidels. If you would just believe the gospel according to Barry, and stay within the invisible walls the Democrats have worked so hard to erect, our enemies will somehow hold peace rallies all across the greater Muslim world in support of the chosen one. In reality, they have locked us all inside the impenetrable cell of their own imaginations.

Consider the early days of the Obama administration, when political correctness seemed to rear its ugly head around every corner. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano launched an FBI watch list citing military veterans and anti-immigration and pro-life Americans as “rightwing extremists” and potential national security threats. This was about the same time when the word “terrorism” was replaced by “man-caused disasters” in the name of political correctness.

Shortly thereafter, an active duty army officer, Major Nidal Hasan, committed a despicable massacre at Fort Hood – shouting “Allahu Akbar” before he opened fire on military and civilian personnel. The Obama administration was quick to condemn the use of the words “Islamic extremism,” but slow to respond to the obvious: What to do about 13 dead and 29 wounded at the hands of an Islamic extremist.

Finally someone dared to say what we were all thinking. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Senate Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman recently held a press conference stating the massacre “could have and should have been prevented” because the Department of Defense “had compelling evidence of [Hasan’s] growing embrace of violent Islamic extremism before the attack…” Apparently political correctness is so sacrosanct that short of walking around Fort Hood wearing a visible suicide vest, he should have been allowed to say anything simply because he was a Muslim. And for those who will undoubtedly cry McCarthyism, it is not. It's realism.

The administration’s handling of the Fort Hood massacre makes it tough to believe they have a moral rudder, or the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing by the majority of Americans who want simply want justice for all Americans, no matter their religious leanings. Obama’s personal invitation to invite the Muslim Brotherhood to his Cairo speech appeared benign until recent statements – or misstatements – were issued suggesting the Brotherhood could play a positive leadership role in a new Egypt and National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s description of the group as “mostly secular.” Incidentally, he’s the same Clapper who was caught off guard and cast a blank stare during an interview when asked if he was aware of the December 2010 arrest of 12 British terrorists. Napolitano, the Administration official who told us “the system worked” after the 2009 BVD Bomber attack - vouched for Clapper and chalked his lack of intelligence to a public relations gaffe.

Lt. Col. West, like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will face an uphill battle in Congress as Democrats will pull out their worn playbook for Conservative African-Americans to marginalize them as an unqualified anomaly. But to be sure, West is a rising star because he dares to speak the truth that America must break free from the political correctness that threatens to enslave and imprison us all.

SUSAN STAMPER BROWN

Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Reach Susan at susan @susanstamperbrown.com, her Web site www.susanstamberbrown.com and Facebook.